Ella wrote:

Also actors fake yawning or sneezing etc tend to stick out obviously. Interesting to find the line between what's "faking" and just making yourself do it for real with all these things (crying, laughing, yawning etc)

I was just having a conversation with someone about basically this topic.  Having acted myself (onstage) and having watched a lot of actors through the years, I believe that the most important and yet most challenging thing for an actor is to "be" only "in the moment," never anticipating what's to come in the script and never becoming distracted.  I think most non-actors understand that actors usually don't feel the precise emotions their characters feel at the precise moments their character is supposed to be feeling them; acting is an art after all, not "real life."  But if an actor makes a habit of "being in the moment," then the actor's performance will always be "truthful" (a common theatre term) and will convince the audience.  In other words, one can give a truthful acting performance even if one isn't crying or laughing "for real."  I felt I should point all this out because I'm afraid some might be disappointed to learn that Neeson wasn't actually crying in the scene I posted. 

 

Agreed.  I'm totally convinced, though, by Neeson's crying:  the tears in his eyes that he looks like he's trying to hold back (after Stern gives him the ring), the way his face crumples as he breaks down, and finally the sobs (even if they were, in reality, just laughs -- which I personally doubt).

I probably have seen one or two badly acted crying scenes in my life, but none come to mind at present.  I think any "crying scene" where the actor does not produce tears and at the same time does not bother to cover or hide his face might be termed bad.
 

I don't want to say that Neeson was "Laughing" during that scene, just that, as an acting technique, fake laughing and crying are very similar.